Bent County registering for body cam donations

Wednesday

BodyCameraDonations.com is a platform that reaches out to the general public to support agencies like the Bent County Sheriff’s Office, to assist them in purchasing body cameras.

BodyCameraDonations.com is a platform that reaches out to the general public to support agencies like the Bent County Sheriff’s Office, to assist them in purchasing body cameras.

“We want to use body cameras for the safety of our deputies, especially in light of everything going on in the country, with so many accusations being made against officers,” said Undersheriff Frank Gallegos.

The Sheriff’s Office is hoping to raise funds for 13 body cameras.

“We had a few complaints made against our deputies and we want to be able to use body cameras as training tools to look for areas to improve…to see how our deputies react to citizens and how citizens react to our deputies.”

In addition to Bent County, the Sheriff’s Office has also taken over the law enforcement duties for neighboring city, Las Animas.

Undersheriff Gallegos said that with this added responsibility, the deputies calls of service has increased and they are covering more violent calls of service.

In preparing ahead, he added that “already have a body camera policy but haven’t implemented it yet because we don’t have body cameras yet.”

With the high costs of purchasing body worn cameras, BodyCameraDonations.com was launched in 2015 to provide a quick and effective way for individuals and organizations in the community to donate top quality body cameras to small law enforcement agencies who do not have the budget to cover new equipment like body cameras. This platform allows law enforcement agencies like Bent County Sheriff’s Office, the opportunity to engage with the community and raise funds for body cameras.

All funds donated to BodyCameraDonations.com goes towards providing the law enforcement agencies with body cameras. There are no administrative fees or hidden costs to the agencies that register. BodyCameraDonations.com purchases body cameras exclusively from WOLFCOM®. In 2016, BodyCameraDonations.com supported 13 law enforcement agencies around the country with over $30,000 donated by the public.